Are you feeling old? If not, consider this:
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1980.They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression. Their lifetime has always included AIDS. Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.... The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them. They may have heard of an 8-track, but chances are they probably have never actually seen or listened to one. The digital Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old. As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents. They have always had an answering machine. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels. They were born the year that the Walkman was introduced by Sony. They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws. They have no idea what "and my name, is Charlie-They work for me," means. They don't know that "8-6-7-5-3-0-9" is Jenny's phone number. They don't know who Mork was or where he was from. They never heard the term "Where's the beef?". They probably have no recollection of seeing a Pinto or a Yugo on the road. They don't remember when Spam was something edible. (Well, almost.) They find nothing strange about Gorbachev doing pizza commercials. They can't imagine the Braves and the Bulls being terrible teams, and don't remember when Terry Bradshaw wasn't a studio personality. They don't know what a Beta videotape is. They describe 80's music as "retro." They might not know that Charlie Watts didn't always look like that. Some of their parents were still in diapers when the Beatles started out. ( By the way, you could cc. this to your young friends, but remember they won't know what a "carbon copy" is. )
Do you feel old now? Remember, the people who don't know these things will be in college this year.